Futurama Festival was an annual

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

and gothic rock festival held at venues in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

, Stafford and Queensferry between 1979 and 1983. A sixth edition was held in 1989. It aimed for a relaunch in 2021 but, after being postponed, was forced to cancel as a result of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

Festival

At the end of the 1970s, promoter John Keenan was running an event called F Club in

and decided to put on the Futurama festival at the

Queens Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it ...

on 8 and 9 September 1979, billing it as the "World's First Science-Fiction Music Festival". The lineup included

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...

, Cabaret Voltaire, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Fall,

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after atte ...

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Co ...

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and d ...

and

The Teardrop Explodes The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single " Reward", the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s. ...

. Overall, half the 30

bands on the lineup came from the four cities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield.

Mike Badger Michael Clifford Badger is an English singer-songwriter, artist and sculptor from Liverpool, England. Co-founder of The La's he went on to form alternative country/roots rockabilly band The Onset in 1988 and Mike Badger and The Shady Trio in ...

(later of

The La's The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from 1983 until 1992. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group are best known for their hit single " There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Bad ...

) hitchhiked from Liverpool and recalled the crowd being composed of glue sniffing punks. Stan Erraught of The Stars of Heaven wrote that "Joy Division were a revelation, obviously, but the abiding memory is of seeing The Fall for the first of many times". Sioux-edinburgh80

At Futurama 2 in 1980, the bands at the Queens Hall included

Clock DVA Clock DVA are a musical group from Sheffield, England, whose style has touched on industrial, post-punk, and EBM. They formed in 1978 by Adolphus "Adi" Newton and Steven "Judd" Turner. Along with contemporaries Heaven 17, Clock DVA's name wa ...

, Echo and the Bunnymen and

The Durutti Column The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England.Strong, Martin C. (1999) "The Great Alternative & Indie Discography", Canongate, The band is a project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly wh ...

The Virgin Prunes Virgin Prunes were an Irish post-punk band formed in 1977 in Dublin, Ireland. They disbanded in 1986 after the departure of singer Gavin Friday. The other members continued under the name The Prunes until they split up in 1991. History The Vir ...

performed wearing loincloths with pigs' heads on their crotches. Siouxsie and the Banshees headlined, with

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their pla ...

early on the bill. Keyboardist Dave Ball from Soft Cell saw John Peel in the audience and gave him a copy of their first EP, ''

Mutant Moments ''Mutant Moments'' is the debut EP by synthpop duo Soft Cell. Only 2000 copies were pressed, originally by Big Frock Records, then later by a Japanese fan club, making the record extremely rare and prized by collectors and fans alike. The duo, wh ...

''. After Peel played it on his radio show, they were signed to

Some Bizzare Records Some Bizzare Records was a British independent record label owned by Stevo Pearce. The label was founded in 1981, with the release of '' Some Bizzare Album'', a compilation of unsigned bands including Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, the The, Neu E ...

. Reviews of the event in

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

were mixed, with one writeup calling it "Castle Donington for the angst-rock brigade". The following year, Futurama 3 was held at the

Bingley Hall, Stafford Bingley Hall (also known as New Bingley Hall to distinguish itself from the Bingley Hall in Birmingham) is an exhibition hall located in Stafford, England, on the site of the Staffordshire County Showground. During the 1970s and 1980s it was a ver ...

, with

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

Theatre of Hate Theatre of Hate are a British post-punk band formed in London, England, in 1980. Led by singer-songwriter Kirk Brandon (formerly of the Pack), the original group also consisted of bassist Stan Stammers (formerly of the Straps and the Epilepti ...

, UK Decay and

The Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasi ...

playing. Futurama 4 was held in 1982 at the Deeside Leisure Centre, a sports centre at Queensferry in northern Wales. It hosted Danse Society, Dead or Alive,

March Violets ''March Violets'' is a historical detective novel and the first written by Philip Kerr featuring detective Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther. ''March Violets'' is the first of the trilogy by Kerr called ''Berlin Noir''. The second, '' The Pale Crimina ...

Gene Loves Jezebel Gene Loves Jezebel are a British rock band formed in the early 1980s by identical twin brothers Jay (born John) and Michael Aston. Gene Loves Jezebel's best-known songs include "Heartache", "Desire (Come and Get It)" (1986), "The Motion of L ...

Sex Gang Children Sex Gang Children are an early gothic rock and post-punk band that formed in early 1982 in Brixton in London, England. Although the original group only released one official studio album, their singles and various other tracks have been pack ...

and

Southern Death Cult Southern Death Cult were a British post-punk/ gothic rock band in the early 1980s. They are now primarily known for having given their lead singer and parts of the name to the multi-platinum hard rock band the Cult. Despite the similarities in ...

. Futurama 5 ended the run of events in 1983 back at the Queens Hall, with a lineup of

goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

and punk bands including the New Model Army. According to

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

, the use of the word "goth" to describe the genre was coined by the

Yorkshire Evening Post The ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' is a daily evening publication (delivered to newsagents every morning) published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The paper provides a regional slant on the day's news, and traditi ...

, in an article describing the fifth festival. A sixth Futurama was put on by Keenan at the

Bradford Alhambra The Alhambra Theatre is a theatre in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, named after the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, which was the place of residence of the Emir of the Emirate of Granada. It was built in 1913 at a cost of £20,000 fo ...

in 1989.

Relaunch

In 2020, it was announced that Futurama would return in April the following year as a two day festival in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, at the

Invisible Wind Factory Invisible Wind Factory is an events venue based in a former factory in Liverpool, UK. It opened in 2016 and has hosted a range of gigs and other events. Building The building is at 3 Regent Road, to the north of Liverpool city centre and nea ...

Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn Ware (keyboards) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously of the Human League), and ...

and

Peter Hook and The Light Peter Hook and The Light are an English rock band, formed in May 2010 by bass guitarist/vocalist Peter Hook, formerly of the influential post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order. The band also features Hook's son Jack Bates (bass), as well ...

were the headline acts. As a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the festival was first postponed to September 2021 and then April 2022; since Heaven 17 could no longer headline they were replaced by New Model Army. In early 2022, it was announced that the festival was not going ahead.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control 1979 establishments in the United Kingdom Music festivals in the United Kingdom Gothic rock Post-punk